The Maelstrom Chronicles
by Sizdothyx
Summary: Crossover NarutoxWoW. In Azeroth, a place filled with unique individuals to talk to, epic battles to be fought and legendary artifacts to be found, Uzumaki Naruto yearns to make a difference. Whether the denizens of this new world like it or not.
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: **Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto, the Warcraft series belong to Blizzard Entertainment and (to my knowledge) the idea of the following crossover belongs to General Grievous.

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_**The Maelstrom Chronicles**_

_By Sizdothyx_

_

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_

_They were getting tired, they knew. _

_Their power was diminishing, losing ground to this unknown torrent of _force _and _malevolence_ that tore their defenses and natural spiral of _Time _like a sword through sand. The irony of the expression was not lost on them, one of their avatars mused far in the future._

_But they could not slack in their tries, otherwise all would be lost. They saw to the future, glimpses of figures flashing before their eyes. _

_One of them was a pale elf wielding secrets and magic beyond human comprehension. Another was a human with crimson hair, a powerful caster, kneeling before his wife. Another was a powerful Orc warrior, proud yet tormented. All of them would play a crucial role in order to prevent the torrent from annihilating everything _Life _stood for._

_Yet…_

_They –he- felt that even with the trio's most valiant efforts, there was something amiss. Far in the distant future, long beyond their death and the awakening of a different world, was yet another torrent surging towards them. It seemed that their opponent were far more cunning than he had imagined. They regretted underestimating them in the present, while in the future they were already formulating a plan. They had secured the past as far they could, but the present (one of the most prominent ones, at least) was still in danger. _

_They had no time to miss – the sands forming their eyes fell upon a blond young man in the distant future. _

"_Yesss…" They _all _smiled. "There isss hope for usss yet…" _

_The sands of Time already twisting under his will, Nozdormu cast the spell that would hopefully save Azeroth._

_

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_

Uzumaki Naruto was not a patient man by nature. He was used to quick battles that lacked banter and speeches of bravado, unlike the one he was currently involved in. His opponent, a female Kiri ninja that focused too damn much on stealth and the Hidden Mist technique, was dancing around him in the trees that surrounded him. Her voice was magnified by the emptiness of the forest, and it was hard for even him, with his improved senses, to detect her.

He grabbed four shuriken from the pouch tied to his belt and tossed them at the way he thought he had heard her. The assassination tools were embedded fully in a tree branch with a dull _thud, _accompaniedwith the woman's laughter. "Is that all?" She hissed from somewhere behind him. "I expected that someone like _Uzumaki Naruto, _the fabled _Red Terror_, had more to offer. Perhaps-" Her speech was cut off by Naruto's spewing fire at her direction, "-I should have picked the son of the White Fang instead. You tire me."

Naruto growled lightly at his attack's failure. The more he let her toy with him, the more his allies in the battlefield suffered. He thought of using _that, _but dismissed it. These days it was getting even harder to control the prized technique, and he knew that he had none to blame for that but himself and his late teacher's ignorance. His blue eyes darted around to track the source of the steps he heard, thus losing his train of thought. He needed to be more careful.

Half-immortal or not, there are some things that could definitely get him killed – his unawareness most of all.

One of the bitch's _senbon _caught him in the right shoulder, deep enough for his sleek with blood fingers to be unable to pull it out. Already he felt his hand go numb under the pressure. Naruto hated to admit it, but his opponent knew what she was doing. "Good one," he admitted aloud. Strangely, it gained no response.

She should be closing in for the kill. Naruto smiled. He had been counting on her doing so for the last ten minutes. "Speaking of which, I'm also impressed that you're able to wield such a monster of a sword in battle. If it was me, I'd crumble under the pressure. Then again, it's not like I tried to enter the Mist's Seven Swordsmen squad and failed because all I had to offer was some gratuitous tits and a mild talent in water techniques until my late twenties." The jinchuuriki grinned, going for the killer line. "I've done my homework as well, Charnel of the Mist."

His nail was driven home; there were few people involved in the war that were not aware of Nagasawa Shina's feministic fanaticism. She only favored female opponents, and would only fight them as fair as she could, if there was such a thing as 'fairness' in the world of ninja. To mention the bodily assets and failures to a woman that'd rather be born a man in a true sexist fashion only Naruto, Kakashi and the late Jiraya were capable off, was more than suicidal enough. Still, he had gotten her to be sloppy. He gathered her presence less than a foot behind him just as she prepared to drive her gigantic sword into his chest, impaling him.

His right arm flailing around him uselessly, Naruto turned just in time to respond to the assault with one of his own – a sphere of pure energy swirling in on itself. Shina's eyes widened as the Fourth Hokage's most prized and feared technique tore apart her sword like it was nothing, and Naruto was expressionless as he bore the _Rasengan _past her hands and into her chest. Before it could tear her flesh and rip her apart, he allowed the technique to explode in his arm, sending her skidding on the ground with a melon-sized hole in her solar plexus. Her eyes stared at Naruto's own blue eyes lifelessly.

He had not regretted killing her. This was war, and not one his side had waged on the other. Naruto picked a kunai from its holster tied around his leg and stabbed his senbon wound. It was unbelievable how far it was embedded in his flesh – Shina's strength rivaled Tsunade's for her to be able to perform such a devastating feat. Naruto imagined the metallic needle driven into his skull and shuddered involuntary. With his makeshift scalpel opening the wound enough for the wounded ninja to grab the needle, Naruto pulled it out of his body with a grant and tossed it next to the dead body in front of him.

He sighed as he cracked his neck. This battle had taken its toll in him. Even so, it was worth it. One of Kiri's major players lay dead, her secrets soon to be in Yamanaka Inoichi's capable hands for him to decipher and share. The way Naruto saw it; they were one step closer to winning this war.

He moved closer to the cadaver, feeling his tenant's restorative energies closing the gap on his shoulder. All that would remain of the wound would be dried blood. Shina would even be denied the legacy of having hurt Konoha's Red Terror, Uzumaki Naruto. Said Jonin knelt next to the body, kunai still at hand, and prepared to use one of his teacher's sealing techniques. It would enable him to carry Shina back to the Leaf's temporary headquarters without worrying about the body weighing him down.

However… Something was wrong. He could feel it with his sixth sense.

Before he could acknowledge it, the energies of the Demon inside him burned outward in an attempt to protect him from an unseen force. Immolated, Naruto screamed in pain as if real fire had engulfed him. The red power enveloped his entire body, and he could feel the seal on his stomach burn outwards as something akin to an air technique slammed on him. "What the hell?" He managed to ask through his gritted teeth as the flames suddenly subsided. There was something in the air around him. He could not explain it, but he felt as if a thousand eyes watched his every move.

And then he was slammed once more with the invisible forces that seemed to drive him to his knees. He screamed beyond his will as something primal drew the Demon's protections out of him, before doubling its efforts to whatever it was doing to him.

Naruto's back arched and every muscle on his body tightened as his skeleton disappeared from within him. His tongue now sticking to an upper jaw that was not there, Naruto felt his blood escape his body followed by the small muscles. His heart disappeared, followed by lungs full with precious air. One of his eyes saw the forest around him, the other a dark swamp. His nails were ripped out of his body. He was a sack of skin filled with intestines and fat. He felt his empty knees give way and he fell…

…In dirty waters. He barely registered the change in his environment when the Demon tried to exploit his weakness and escape. Beyond his will, the fox burned upwards in an effort to be released. Naruto felt the water around him evaporate as the hellfire surrounded him once more. He needed to put his foot down and concentrate; otherwise they would have another Tenchi bridge incident. He had no idea where he was or why he was there, but if he let the fox within him escape, everything in the vicinity would die until the seal was restored by itself.

Something that he was not sure that could happen.

A primal roar escaping his lips, Naruto pressed his fingers, coated with chakra on his seal-covered stomach. With a pathetic yelp from the energy surrounding him, Naruto was turned back to normal.

He whistled appreciatively before the swamp water around him covered him yet again. He sputtered around in his straggle to go to the surface, but finally he was safe, floating in the midst of a foreign swamp.

_Yep, _Naruto thought, _well enough for me, considering my usual luck._

Exhaustion claiming him, Naruto lost consciousness.

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**Author's Notes: **Rather short, but what you read is a mere prologue, really – the basics of the story (both Azeroth and Naruto-verse wise) will be expanded in the second chapter. Now then, for some credits, which go to; Kraken's Ghost, for upgrading my interest in WoW as far as fan fiction is concerned and Sevejar Locke, who prompted me to get off my lazy ass and start writing (again).

So, tell me what you think. It'll be appreciated. Those that won't to discuss the fic can do so in my Livejournal.

-Siz


	2. Ch 1: I am murloc!

**Disclaimer: **Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto, the Warcraft series belong to Blizzard Entertainment and (to my knowledge) the idea of the following crossover belongs to General Grievous.

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**Chapter 1: I am murloc!**

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"Mister! Hey mister!" The voice was shrill and meek even with the urgency it carried. A petite female hand was shaking him at the height of his shoulder, making him rock left and right as he floated in the waters.

"…Go away, Sakura." Naruto groaned, not really paying attention.

The figure insisted. "Mister, it's not safe here. You can get killed! You can get us _both _killed!" At his clear indifference, she gave him a violent shove, turning him over and into the waters. He came up sputtering and gasping for breath.

Naruto spat the dirty waters out of his mouth as he pulled his wild wet hair out of his eyes. He glared at the figure through stinging blue eyes that betrayed annoyance. "Damn it, Sakura, do you think that's funny?" He yelled as he realized that the girl in front of him had _nothing _to do with his former teammate. For one, she was quite younger, barely an adolescent, bore normally colored hair that reached her waist, and had innocent brown eyes that hid no ghosts whatsoever. Sakura's eyes were gaunt and haunted with figures of the past, a clear contrast of the girl's. Naruto paused in his tirade.

"You're not Sakura." He deadpanned after a moment.

She shook her head, sending her black, equally wet, hair flailing around like tendrils.

Naruto stood there, flabbergasted, the memories of the most bizarre experience he had lived resurfacing to his mind. Killing the Mist's Charnel, trying to seal her body in a scroll when he had been cleanly dissected and brought to this swamp, sealing the Kyuubi… He gritted his teeth together, trying to keep a level head. It would not do to appear a berserker to the only person around. "So, who are you then?"

She beamed at him. "Melissa," she giggled. "Melissa Caldwell." She was chest-deep in the waters while they reached Naruto up to the waist. She nodded to the shore of the particular patch of swamp they were in.

Naruto agreed with her decision by boldly walking to the edge. "I'm Naruto." He told her as he offered her his gloved hand. She took it gladly and shook it vigorously, impressing the Jonin. Usually, girls her age were really timid. She probably originated from a small village. From his experience, they were definitely bolder in expressing themselves.

"Weird name," she admitted, "but you look weird as well, so I guess it suits you." She smirked at Naruto playfully. The blond mused that he should indeed appear weird to her, clad in his battle attire when she was wearing but a linen dress. Battle vest, leather gloves, boots, headband protector, army clothes underneath. She was young enough to have missed appearances of ninja if she originated from a small village. His geography was rusty, but the few swamps he knew of existed in the Waterfall country. How or why he had appeared there was a mystery he was not willing to speak of yet.

"So," Naruto said, trying to make small talk, "nice of you to save me, even though you got your nice dress messed up. Thanks."

She blushed cutely and looked elsewhere. "Don't mention it," she finally said, pride winning over her other feelings. "And thanks about the dress. My dad bought it for me."

"He seems to have an eye for such things," Naruto replied as he tried to mule over what to do next. He could simply ask for directions and then take off, or play it safe and see if he could find the Hidden Waterfall from where they currently were. Last time he had checked, Waterfall was playing the 'impartial' card in the war games.

"He did, yes. He's… gone now." He heard Melissa say.

"I'm sorry to hear that." Naruto said off-handedly, deciding to cut off the conversation before it ventured into really dangerous topics, like mentioning his own parents or where he was from. An appearance of a Leaf ninja in the middle of nowhere –specifically, the only blond Leaf ninja matching the description of Uzumaki Naruto- would do him no good. He scratched his scarred cheeks absentmindedly.

"So, Naruto, how come you decided to take a nap in the marsh?" The younger girl giggled with amusement, earlier chat about her absent father forgotten.

Naruto chuckled along as he shrugged his shoulders. "Wish I knew, Melissa. I must've conked my head someplace and drifted off."

She raised an eyebrow. "So you are an adventurer?"

"Sure," he told her diplomatically.

"Were you in a band then? A band with mages and priests and heroic paladins? Boy, I'm getting jealous! I would like to be an adventurer as well, like the fabled dashing rogue that convinced the Theramore traitors to reveal themselves with nothing but a few words! Or like the White Lady herself! You're so lucky, Naruto!" Melissa practically squealed with excitement, remind Naruto of all the girls in his class fawning over his long-lost rival. His mind stuck at what she said about _mages _and this… _Theramore _thing.

Just what had he gotten himself into this time?

A weird sound, like someone drowning and fumbling around with his tongue at once, drove him off his current musings. He was on his feet faster than Melissa could track, a kunai already swirling around his index. "Who's there?"

The sound reached him and Melissa yet again. "Get behind me," he hissed his warnings. "Show yourself!"

A wet thump, followed by another; a weird creature appeared from behind the bushes Naruto was staring at. The apparently humanoid creature was a little shorter than Melissa. Its rounded body was covered with fine scales, giving it the appearance of being pudgy or bloated. The arms and legs were slender, almost willowy, ending in broad hands and distended feet that looked much like flippers. Its fishlike, bullet-shaped head had bulging, silver-black eyes and a wide mouth full of sharp teeth.

Behind him, Melissa whispered a terrified "Murloc!"

The creature croaked in response. "Mrglrmgllrrllll!"

Naruto's eyes widened. "What the…"

From the waters around him, similar sounds followed, before the serene liquid exploded with similar figures which Melissa had called murlocs. Naruto lost no time spinning around and sending his readied kunai right in the gullet of one of the closest beasts, before sending shuriken to the other fish-things. Behind him, Naruto could swear that he heard the original murloc… _chanting? _

A high kick from the Jonin sailed past Melissa and was driven into the surprised murloc, who fell on the ground and trashed back and forth with pain on its plain features. Naruto felt the strange euphoria that came with sadism at the creature's howls. Perhaps it was that they had _nothing _to do with humans? He ducked under a leaping murloc and shoved it away as it sailed above him, sending it tumbling on the ground and away from him and Melissa.

_No, _Naruto realized as he brought a steel kunai into his grip, _this has nothing to do with racism. It's got more to do with the excitement of beating something because it has the gal to try and _eat _you, as opposed to boggling you with chatter and mind-games. _

A strange liquid smelling like spoilt fish oozed out of a purple-colored murloc as Naruto gutted it. Spinning on the spot, Naruto removed the kunai from the creature's intestines and shoved it forcefully in the sweet spot under the chin of another. _Three down, roughly ten to go._

Naruto was clearly too much of a catch for the fish-things, so they opted for the smaller, obviously shaken creature he was trying to guard. As Naruto changed tactics in order to protect the young girl, the original murloc, the one that was seemingly reciting something akin to a melody, clapped its hands above its head. Suddenly, as quickly as it stopped, lightning resonated around its six fingers with a crackle of light. The sudden sound caught Naruto's attention, who was in the process of severing limbs from two offensive murlocs, and it was all the gang of fish-men needed.

The murloc which Naruto had sent away and had thus dismissed had crawled its way to the ninja. With a victorious gurgle, it grabbed Naruto by the ankle. Surprised yet again, Naruto failed to notice that the Murloc wielding thunder had decided to unleash the technique. The thunder got both him and the murloc, affecting them to the fullest. With a bang, Naruto sailed away and into the water yet again. The murloc had no such luck, as it steamed heavily, its carcass now a bloated, gruesome sight that sent Melissa retching.

The caster murloc raised its hands in victory and started gurgling. Their leader declaring victory, the five remaining murlocs hollered their own cries.

In the midst of it all, Melissa sobbed. She was going to die, she knew it. She would never see her mommy again, never make her proud with one of her vase of precious flowers again, never kiss a boy, never again eat one of her mom's delicious pies with apples specially ordered from Stormwind…

_At least, _she thought, _I'll get to see my Daddy again._

The chanting murloc gurgled its orders as its bugged eyes fell upon the crying human. Two of its followers responded in kind, and moved towards Melissa with their small feet drumming against the wet ground.

There was a moment of pause.

And then the bog behind them exploded upwards, Naruto roaring as the water cascaded around him, fire in his eyes. The murlocs' start was all he needed as he formed two half-seals with his right hand. Wrist and down, the air around the blonde's hand started swirling with immense speed. Naruto calculated the height at which he needed to unleash the modification of the _Kaze no Yaiba, _and then did a chopping motion in front of him with the hand holding the technique. There was naught but a small breeze.

The murlocs started to howl, but found out that they could not. The shaman raised its hand in order to capture thunder in it yet again, only for the motion to aggravate the subtle but severe cut and have the limb fall down on the ground. It turned to look at Naruto, and saw that its followers had been sliced and diced with accuracy no sword could match. The shaman felt its heart pump blood, and then pain wracked it as it was cut cleanly in half. It fell on the ground, very surprised and very dead.

"Melissa!" Naruto yelled as he channeled the chakra he needed to employ in order to use the basic technique of water walking. "Are you ok?" He felt the water under the soles of his feet gain an almost solid substance and then walked upwards, much like one would do on a set of stairs. He reached her in seconds. She was cowering, hands above her head and small sobs shook her body.

He knelt next to her and slightly petted her on the back. "It's over now." He told her with a firm tone. He realized it was possible for her to never again think that it was over, but he had to reassure her, assess the damage and have her lead her to civilization, away from half-mad fish-men that could use Raiton techniques.

"I was scared." She whispered. Unsure of what to do, Naruto opted to keep petting her. "I was really scared… I thought I would die."

Naruto did not like seeing the chipper girl from earlier reduced to this. "Come on," he offered, "you're here, not a scratch on you. You're gonna be fine."

It seemed those words were all Melissa needed. Her sobs finally escaping her, he darted into his chest, embracing him and crying freely. The battle-hardened Jonin, being near to useless in such situations, simply hugged her back once his momentary stun passed. He did not know how long they were like that, Melissa crying and him looking really awkward, but at some point she drew herself out of his wet chest, her hair and dress messy, and beamed at him. "Thank you, Naruto."

"Don't mention it."

And the unnamed bog of Dustwallow Marsh, bodies of dead murlocs surrounding Naruto and Melissa, was the place Jaina Proudmoore, Aegwynn and six Elven Spellbreakers teleported in. It was the second-to-last Guardian of Tirisfal that broke the silence, expressing what she really thought. "What in the Twisted Nether is going on?"

Jaina hissed. "Shh, I'm trying to think here."

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**Author's Notes: **It's going slowly, I know. I stop this chapter here because I plan to have a point of view change in the next one that'll probably help clarify what the Lady of Theramore and the Magna are doing stumbling (or not?) in front of Naruto. Plus, it will also help move the plot along. So far I haven't done much, truth be told. To my lore-abiding readers, ten points will go to whoever can guess who Melissa's dad is. ;)

That'd be all for now. Hope you enjoyed it – and even if you hated it, some R&R is welcome.

-Siz


	3. Ch 2: The Devil to pay

**Disclaimer: **Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto, the Warcraft series belong to Blizzard Entertainment and (to my knowledge) the idea of the following crossover belongs to General Grievous.

**

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**Chapter 2: The Devil to pay**

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They sat in relative silence, the three of them; Naruto, Jaina and Aegwynn.

Occasionally, Naruto munched on some harder vegetable or clanged his silverware and the sound practically _echoed _in the vast dining chamber. Jaina ate her soup with immense gracefulness that came with being born a noblewoman. Aegwynn simply looked amused as the young man on the other side of the table pushed his plate to the one side of the table, picked up the salad and started munching anew.

Naruto raised an eyebrow as he brought forth his fork, hanging from which was a piece of chopped vegetable. "What did we call this thing again?"

Jaina smiled politely, patience straining. "Cucumber."

The ninja tried emulating the word, but between Jaina's lighter than his accent and sheer strangeness of the word, found that he could not. Forgetting about the subject already, he brought another plate in front of him; this one filled with various meat delicacies, and resumed eating. He did not care about possible poisons or drugs they might had slipped into his food – he smelt none of the most usual ones, and even if he did, his immune system rendered him just _that_ to poisons; immune_._

When they had first brought him here, Naruto could not exactly relate to them. Where they really so trusting? It did not make any sense. Just because he had saved a girl from a bunch of fish-men did not mean that he had good intentions; Naruto knew from experience. Once, when the war had first escalated, he had caused an accident so that he could save the would-be victim and get closer to the target's father – the former, long-dead _damiyo_. It had involved a carriage, one of Naruto's clones and a spoilt girl that seemed ready to give herself to him for his heroic acts alone. A girl who had insisted that "he can't be bad, daddy! We just _have _to reward him!" Naruto was not proud of poisoning every person involved in that banquet and then making a bold escape as a dead body, but there was no choice about it. The damiyo had been playing at both ends of the table and selling precious steel to both Kiri and Konoha, and if an innocent -if mislead- girl had to die along with the rest of the traitors, then that's the way it was.

The Jinchuuriki made a spectacle to take a whiff of the tasty sausages in front of him, but in reality detected four more men hiding in the room. He did not smell any poisons in their weapons, though. An invisibility technique mastered to perfection Naruto could understand – giving him an additional chance to leave the room alive he could not.

"So," Naruto started, "do you think we should lay our cards on the table? If anything, we might reach a point of understanding just what is going on, right?"

Jaina nodded. "You are right, of course. Delaying this will take us nowhere. So, I woke up this morning only to find out that…"

As she told her half-truths, Jaina thought back to how her day had _really _started.

* * *

"Focus, Jaina. I know you can do it." Aegwynn's voice seemed to come from everywhere around the archmage. A mere mind trick, but it was unnerving to hear the elder woman's ethereal voice whisper in the solace of her tower. The windows had been closed for the exercise, dousing the top floor of Jaina's house and headquarters in darkness. The blond sorceress mumbled her response, blowing a lock of stray hair out of her blue eyes, and strengthened her concentration.

"It can be attainable, that much I know, Aegwynn." Jaina admitted to her unofficial teacher. "But my certain affinity to magic seems to turn everything against me."

Aegwynn stepped into view, huffing in annoyance. She was clad in an indigo robe that concealed her impressive figure from foreign eyes, and kept an ivory cloak draped over her shoulders. Her snow-white hair cascaded down her back with the usual rubies she kept in her hair present. Her pupil-less eyes were locked with hers, and she had a smirk of derision in her purple lips. "Your affinity to magic? No need to disgrace yourself. I am certain that a person of your standing and power can find better excuses in order to _not light a candle_."

Jaina rolled her azure eyes. "You don't have to ridicule me."

Aegwynn smiled almost maternally. The elder woman rarely did that before she had met her, Jaina knew. "It makes reaping your rewards sweeter and you know it." The Magna teased. "Now focus and do as you are told."

Jaina resumed her spellwork, or rather lack thereof. They had been at it all morning, with Aegwynn waking her up and telling her that today's exercise would be lighting a candle without using spellwork but sheer force of will. Was Jaina to say anything at all a full minute prior or after the candle lit itself would render the exercise null and they –she- would have to go at it again, this time with Jaina's masqueraded chamberlain making the process even harder. Jaina had laughed and thought that she would breeze through the exercise, but found out that wishing fire out of nothing was close to impossible without the necessary verbal and somatic spellwork. The variables involved were causing her migraines. Still, the blond witch was not one to disappoint. She was still sitting on the floor, legs crossed and fingers entwined in almost a spiritual preparation to a prayer. The cold of the season had crept through the windowsills, and Jaina once more wished that Aegwynn had allowed her to dress herself before insisting on their beginning the exercise.

With a blink, Jaina banished useless thoughts out of her head and delved deeply into her own mind, searching for an excess reserve of energy that she could fling against the candle, wishing for the damn thing to light up and spare her the feeling of humiliation she felt whenever she failed Aegwynn's exercises. For a brief second, there was only a cold Jaina in the middle of her bedroom, clad in only the most necessary. It took her less than a second to reduce her surroundings to _a_ Jaina in the middle of _a _room. Even less to reduce her mind to a primal state that could only be described as somewhat similar to what the Night Elf druids referred to as 'delving into the Emerald Dream'.

The main difference between her ways –a wizard's through and through- and a druid's was that she did not send herself outward in another ream of existence but rather outward, in the 'real' world. She could feel everything around her; from Aegwynn's heartbeat to the soft yet sturdy material of her mattress to the unyielding wood of her bed. Outside of the room, Jaina's bodyguards were chatting about their former night's ventures. Underneath her, in the libraries, a high elf mage hummed lightly as he tried to decide what book to study from. The archmage felt Aegwynn's impatient gaze.

"Do not let astral projecting daze you so, girl. There are dangers roaming at this place that you could not even dream of. If you only knew how close you were venturing to the Twisted Nether…" Aegwynn reprimanded. Jaina nodded before remembering that the Magna could only feel her presence and actions in the room with her magic; she could not see her. Reasoning that delaying any further would not sum to less scolding, Jaina reached the candle with her disembodied hand…

_-fire-_

_Not normal, no – far from it, fire burning and everlasting and shimmering and vile, a behemoth in size and a demon in nature. _

_-bursting outward, eating and consuming-_

_She hurt._

_-roaring and staggering, the fire found her-_

_She screamed._

_-reaching for __**her-**_

_She had faced nothing like this, and she was scared, and she wanted to call for her father but her father was dead, because __**she **__had killed him._

_-grabbing her-_

_The motions, the shapes, they all gave way to the __**sun **__that was the flames, and she knew that nothing could save her._

_-releasing her-_

_-screaming-_

_-barred beyond a cage-_

_A young man in the middle of the swamp._

Jaina realized that she was crying like she never had before. Despite feeling the fires of an _evil _that had just threatened to consume Azeroth itself, she shivered like pure ice was running through her veins. She was so tired… Arms enveloped her and kept her close, white hair falling from above to obscure her vision. Aegwynn was warm and attractive and she was slowly becoming herself as the Magna undid the mayhem she had caused with her terrified burst of magic. The entire room was frozen and snow was lazily drifting down on the two women's forms, obscuring them.

"And to think," Aegwynn mattered, "that we are nearing spring."

The hysteric woman in her arms, a contrast to her usual demeanor, snickered; soon the amused sound turned into a full blown laughter that carried a hint of madness in it. "Jaina, I need you to focus." the Magna reprimanded. "Whatever it is you saw, I felt. An evil that rivals Sargeras just _walked _into this world and it falls up to _us _to do something about it."

A hint of enchanting magic in her words and soon the Archmage of Theramore was hugging her back as she finally became herself. "Thank you. You are of course right, Aegwynn. Summon the Spellbreakers; we're going to go investigating. Just-" Jaina's lip quivered as the last throws of her paroxysm dissipated, "-just give me a moment to ready myself." The frost had disappeared, and the temperature had returned to normal – it was as if Jaina had never unleashed her magic against her bedroom. The Magna was subtle in her magic, but still powerful.

Aegwynn gave her a motherly smile and walked out of the room, swiftly closing the door behind her and barking orders to the two guards standing outside.

Jaina thanked the woman for her detachment. If Duree was here, she would coo over her, never realizing the threat that had just washed over her. Jaina shakily stood, summoning her robe and cloak to her with but a wave of her hand. She dressed herself, something of a redeeming move after what she had just witnessed, and picked up her staff. She walked out to find Aegwynn and six of the finest elven warriors, all of them clad in their crimson plate armor, waiting for her. For a moment, a brief fear passed through her –_would she and a mere handful of men survive this?- _but she made it go away with her jaw's clenching. If the demon-like presence was still out there and it did, in fact, possess the immensity she had felt, it would have been unable to conceal it.

_Right? _

The feeling of weakness disappeared and she was yet again the authoritative force of Theramore. Without a warning she moved her fingers vaguely around the area in which they all stood. A bright blue rune appeared underneath their feet, and when the light reached its zenith, they disappeared, Jaina's teleporting circle working wonders to bring them to where they needed to go. Jaina dreaded at what she would find. Not even Archimonde had wielded such raw power, the likes of which she had just witnessed. If such power was unleashed in Azeroth… And yet, the Archmage walked tall…

Right into the middle of a slaughterhouse.

It was not the dead murlocs that had disturbed Jaina.

No.

It was the calm, precise brutality in which they had been maimed. No demon could match such exactitude. In the midst of it all sat a young man with blond, wild hair and vivid blue eyes. He was drenched in swamp water, Jaina knew, and sported three ragged marks on each of his cheeks, giving him an almost feline quality. He was clad in simple, black clothes, and wore above them an also black vest. The most peculiar item in his attire was his headband – it sported a metallic plating on the place of the forehead, on which was a swirling symbol similar to…

_A leaf?_

He was embracing a young girl, who was shaking with fear – and with good reason. A young girl which was quite familiar to Jaina. "Melissa?"

"Jaina!" Melissa shocked the young man by breaking off the embrace and running towards the sorceress, a timid grin on her face. She fell on Jaina and held on to her, with the blond woman awkwardly trying to comfort the crying girl.

The young man in the middle of the slaughter got up and looked around him, noticing first the two bold women and then the Elves behind them. He took interest in the warriors' lean frames, bright blue eyes and long, slender ears, as well as heavy armors and vicious-looking swords. "Somehow," he muttered, "I don't think I'm in Fire Country anymore."

* * *

"I see." Naruto exclaimed as he patted his full stomach. The chamberlain looked aghast from watching him eat. He grinned playfully at her and turned his attention back to the owner of the tower they were currently in. "So you detected this… _disturbance _in the force? And that's why you came looking?"

Jaina chuckled at Naruto's slaying of the Arcane Arts' description. "It wasn't just that, Naruto. Practically every man and woman on this island felt your… arrival. And I fear that there are _others_," Naruto could understand that Jaina didn't mean the good guys by the way she said that last part, "who have felt it as well." Jaina leaned forward, placing her elbows on the table. "Now, that said, I would appreciate an explanation. I came looking for a demon the likes of which the world has never seen and instead I found you."

Naruto sighed. Should he tell her? Jaina looked trustworthy and experienced enough to handle just a delicate matter easily. But there was always the possibility of her attacking him, and having seen what she did to the swamp earlier, he was not sure that he could take her on. He scratched his cheek absently. "Fine. But I tell my secret to only you two. The guards will have to leave."

Jaina appeared surprised at his knowing of the invisible Spellbreakers around the room, while Aegwynn seemed appreciative of Naruto's bold statement. The Magna nodded to the leader of the guards standing on the opposite side of her point in the room, and at once the spell dissipated, leaving behind four startled High Elves, who left the room easily, whispering between them.

"It's all us know, Naruto." Jaina said, and the Jonin nodded, wondering briefly of whether his rank still existed in this place. Meanwhile, he thought of his first impression of the two women in front of him.

"It all begun when a Demon Fox attacked my home village…"

* * *

"So, what is it that we're missing?" Lorena asked. She was clad in her lieutenant's armor, Theramore's golden anchor blazing on her tabard. Her short red hair rustled in the sea breeze as she walked, her iron boots clanging hollowly on the pebble-covered street. Her piercing brown eyes seemed to investigate everything around her, including the shaky soldier that walked alongside her in her way to Jaina's tower.

"Well, we have the insignia… Doesn't that speak for itself?" The young man asked. Lorena noted that he was half her age. She could imagine that he had probably never seen what she had faced, never been more terrified than he was being right then… She felt envious of him, for some reason. What she had witnessed in that tavern was atrocious, surely, but it was nothing that could make her lose her lunch.

Something that the _boy _next to her could not say for himself.

The guards in front of the tower saluted her hastily and she halfheartedly returned the gesture alongside the young man. "You are no longer needed," she told him as she entered the tower, "go home and rest." Lorena wished she could remember the poor lad's name. He seemed like he could use a confidence boost right then.

Climbing through the stairs, she reached the tower's main room just as four Spellbreakers walked out. "What's going on?" She practically barked, surprising the Elves.

"Lieutenant." One of the High Elves spoke. "Lady Proudmoore has a… visitor. It is not recommended for you to enter right… Hey!" Lorena had pushed him aside and entered the room halfway through the Elf's speech. The door opening surprised Jaina and a blond man the Lieutenant could not identify, but the Magna did not even notice, caught up in her thoughts as she was.

"Lorena." Jaina said quietly. "What's wrong?"

"There has been a murder in the Naut's Dance, my Lady." Lorena offered. "Normally, that would not catch your attention so immediately, but…" Now even the stranger paid attention to what the soldier was saying. Lorena breathed deeply, suddenly realizing that her words would stir the waters in a very unfavorable fashion. "…but the victim bore marks of the Searing Blade, and died when thousands of insects hatched inside of him."

* * *

_**Author's Notes: **_I apologize for the delay – exams held me up, and when my exams are making a movie (being a director and all), I can't say I had a lot of time to devote to writing. When I _did _start writing, well, the result is pretty clear, no? Anyhow, I can't say that this doesn't shake the foundations. What did you guys think of this chapter? Feedback is required but appreciated.

-Siz

Btw, if anyone could give me Lorena's accurate description, I'd appreciate it - I've lost my Cycle of Hatred book and can't remember what she looks like for the life of me. :P


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